When I played basketball, I was always coached to watch my opponent’s belly button when she had the ball and I was playing defense. I quickly learned that if I watched her eyes, she could look in a different direction than where she would pass the ball. If I watched the ball, she could fake one direction and then go the other. My coaches routinely taught me to watch her belly button because she wasn’t going anywhere without it! Watching the middle of my opponent’s body helped me to know which direction she was going.
In this way of thinking, I suggest that we keep our eyes on Jesus in the middle of our very difficult experiences, challenges and uncertainties. I say this because of reading Luke 8:22-40. In these verses, we can see Jesus navigating opposites, and our observations can help us to keep Jesus in the middle of our lives as our central focus. Here are some contrasts and challenges that could happen in our lives and examples of watching for Jesus in the middle.
Stormy weather: In Luke 8:22-25, we read that Jesus and His disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee and experienced a horrific storm, such that the boat was about to capsize or be overwhelmed from the raging wind and waves. In contrast to such upheaval, chaos, stress, fear, uncertainty and danger, Jesus was sleeping. In a panic, the disciples woke Him up. He rebuked the winds and waves, such that everything came to a sudden stop and the sea became a glassy calm. Jesus in the middle of the storms of life can be our great calming force and our Prince of Peace.
Crazy people: In Luke 8:26-39, we read about a demon-possessed man who was brutally tormented and wholly insane from the demons who had taken over his life. When we read of his condition, we learn that he was naked, living in a graveyard, unable to remain around people, and in Mark 5:5, we read that he would constantly gash himself and scream in the graveyard and nearby mountains where he would roam. Jesus stepped into the middle of this man’s torturous nightmare, setting him free from the demons and restoring order and sanity to his soul. In the middle of crazy, Jesus brought sanity. Luke 8:35b shows us the beautiful result of Jesus coming into the middle of insanity: “And they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” In the middle of crazy, Jesus can restore order, health and sanity.
Popularity swings: It’s interesting to see that after Jesus had restored the crazy man to health and stability, the crowd from the nearby city was so freaked out from his transformation that they asked Jesus to leave. In contrast, when Jesus left their area and landed on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, the crowd welcomed Him as they had been waiting for Him to return. One group of people rejected Jesus, and the other group cheered His arrival. Whether in the middle of rejection or reception, Jesus has the ability to navigate both extremes.
So no matter the situation in which you find yourself, be certain to keep Jesus in the middle, at the center of your focus, and let Him be the confidence in your soul!